Shutdown the US government or Afghanistan. Which?

The US constitution requires that the Congress declare war. That has not been done in 65 years. Those Congresses that avoided that duty are now impoverishing our future by waging war on the credit card. We are spending more than we are earning.

The US government is facing being shut down in two weeks. Why? The Republicans demand a cut of $60 Billion, yet our debt is largely financed by China which increases our dependence. The request is not unreasonable.

The resistance from the Democrats comes from concern that cuts in social services will expand unemployment and will kill the fragile economic recovery. That too, is a reasonable concern.

What is unreasonable is that our annual “defense” expense is $651 Billion per year, or $2,100 for every man, woman, infant and retiree obligating them to pay for our (undeclared) wars. A family of four is obliged to pay $8,400 every year for this.

Our war in Afghanistan now has lasted longer than World War I, World War II and the Korean War combined, and to win what? To seize a criminal personality named Osama bin Laden.

The obvious solution is to declare victory and exit Afghanistan. We do not need that territory. Ronald Reagan’s military chief Bing West says it is time to go. Ten years. Armies are good at killing people. They are NOT good at nation building. Why? They do not speak the language. Our soldiers are trained in shooting, not speaking. Different job. What are we doing? Shooting wood gatherers from the air. Engaging in a thousand night raids a month. We are generating enemies. Repeat: We are generating enemies. That is why we must stop, aside from breaking the bank.

To quote Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “.. Any future Defense Secretary who advises the President to again send a large land army to Asia, or into the Middle East or Africa, should have his head examined.” …. West Point speech, February 25th, 2011.

Unless we cut the counterproductive spending; we should have our head examined.

One response to “Shutdown the US government or Afghanistan. Which?”

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The pentagon budget for one year could fund all social programs for ten.
¨Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life…. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.¨

–Dwight Eisenhower, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953